Man with the Iron Fists - Written/Directed/Starring RZA
oh yeah i was wondering if thats what it was gonna be since he plays a blacksmith/slave also in django unchained
RZA is a name synonymous with artistic vision. His list of musical accolades, awards and achievements is a mile long, and continues to grow. He is well known for developing an even stronger connection between martial arts and the urban/hip hop culture than had already existed, and continues on with that endeavor, as evidenced by his latest project. Over the years, he's made several forays into acting, of which have been largely successful, and now adds the title of director to his already impressive resume. In a career that has spanned more than two decades, he has done what most can only dream of.
His latest effort, The Man With The Iron Fists, has been generating serious buzz among diehard Wu-Tang fans, as well as entertainment and combat sports media, since word first came out that it had gotten the green light. He wrote, directed and stars in the film, which chronicles a blacksmith that assembles a group of warriors and assassins to protect their small community from a villainous traitor. The movie, boasting an all star cast that includes Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu and UFC star, Cung Le, is scheduled for release on November 2, 2012.
Through a favor from a close friend (Thank you Cung Le!), I was able to secure an interview with RZA for our readers. It should be noted that when I found out I would be interviewing him, I only had 30 minutes notice, so I put out a call on Twitter and across a couple forums for some fan questions to mix in with my own. Among them, one question made me incredibly nervous, 'How did you get an interview with him? He's sort of known for being difficult with media.' I have no idea how anyone could have gotten this impression of him, as he was one of the most gracious, forthcoming people I have ever interviewed. I was on a PR enforced time limit of 15 minutes, but he allowed me extra time, and answered every question I asked. In short, he was great. So, without any further ado, I present to you my interview with the legendary RZA.
Stephie Daniels: The fruits of all your labor will finally be recognized in less than two weeks. What are your overall thoughts as the time winds down, and the press junkets and media tours go into full swing?
RZA: I'm so proud of it, and I hope we have great commercial success with this film. Personally, I'm satisfied in the sense that I've achieved a dream. At the same time, there's a lot of other people that have put their blood and sweat into it, people like Cung Le, Dave Bautista, Rick Yune, Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu. These people all came to the table for me. You've also got the producers and the studio, putting all that money into the marketing efforts for it, so the commercial success is extremely important so that they can know that they've made a good bet.
I'm just so happy that a vision from a kid's mind could come to reality like this. I'm glad the studio is taking all the steps to make people aware of this film. It's a very fun movie, and it's going to be great to see it on the big screen. It goes well with popcorn [laughs], you know what I mean. This is one of those films.
Stephie Daniels: You've been mixing the hip hop culture with martial arts for years now. Talk a little about that connection.
RZA: Well, I think that Bruce Lee really broke through with it first. I think physicality has always been important in the urban culture. Breakdancers took moves from martial arts movies, and I feel that there's just some kind of synergy there that's hard to decipher, but it's definitely there. It's appeared over and over again. Some people say that it's because those movies were sent to the grindhouse theaters, and those theaters were in the black neighborhoods, so it ended up being one of our choices. We'd get two movies for the price of one, and would end up falling in love with these films. It could come from us being two minorities in this country, but I do know that there is a synergy between the Asian martial arts and urban cultures. I'm happy that I learned about it at such a young age, and I'm really happy to be giving back with this movie.
Stephie Daniels: What's your favorite aspect of this film?
RZA: My favorite aspect is the underlying philosophy. I'm going to sum it up with a quote from the film. This comes from the Bible, as well. It says, 'In the beginning, we taught man by the word, but when the word failed, we were forced to teach through action.' To me, that is martial arts. Bruce Lee talked about the art of fighting without fighting. If you can't, however, talk your way out of a fight, you now have to act. Sometimes it takes action to show people what the right way to go is.
Stephie Daniels: How much martial arts training did you do for this film?
RZA: I did training with Hung Ga for about two months, for 1-2 hours a day. That was at the end of every day, before the next day's filming. I'm also a Shaolin disciple, and I study martial arts principles, as well as Chi Gong.
Stephie Daniels: What went into the selection of your cast? Did you already have certain people set in your mind for the roles?
RZA: Rick Yune was my choice for Axe Blade by the time I got to page 20. Three years ago, right after I finished the screenplay, I already had Russell Crowe in mind for Jack Knife. I didn't know about Dave Bautista until maybe a year out, but I saw him doing stick fighting on the internet, practicing, and this big dude was moving as fast as lightning, so I brought him in.
Cung Le was actually brought to my attention by a buddy of mine, Bokeem Woodbine. Bokeem is an actor, but he's also a martial artist, so when Cung was having his fight with Shamrock, Bokeem had a fight party at his house. He had called me up and told me, 'You've got to come out to my house and watch this guy Cung Le. He's one of my favorite fighters, and he's using real martial arts.' People don't think that real martial arts can work in MMA, but Cung has been proving that it can. He broke Shamrock's arm with a kick. From then on, in my head, Cung Le was a true martial artist, in every sense of the word, and then I got a chance to meet him. I forget who hooked the meeting up, but when I met him, he just had such a great spirit, beyond his martial arts skills. I knew that he would be great as Bronze Lion.
Byron Mann as Silver Lion, that was something I got lucky with, because I was actually casting him as someone else, but his screen test was so good, that I gave him a bigger role. Gordon Liu, as the Abbott, was also another stroke of fate, because I wrote the Abbott for my own sifu. I have a sifu named Shi Yan Ming, who teaches Shaolin styles in America. I had always wanted him to be this particular character, but he couldn't get his visa back to China. He's now an American citizen, and couldn't get his visa back [laughs]. I ended up casting Gordon Liu, who was available, and getting him for that role was a dream realized.
I had a guy from Hong Kong named Mike Leeder, who knew about me and Wu-Tang, and he came onboard to help me pull in Hong Kong actors. I just told him my dream list [laughs], and he just started pulling those guys in. Lucy Liu as Madame Blossom has always been in my head as one on the wish list, and I'm fortunate that we got her. It didn't seem like we were going to have her, but I got her. Pam Grier was an extra blessing. I couldn't even imagine getting Pam for her role, but they gave me three names to choose from, and hers was on the list. I was like, 'Oh, we're getting Pam Grier, for sure.'
Some of the people I cast for the strangest reasons. Pam plays a scene with a guy named Jon Benn, and the reason why I cast Jon was because he was in a Bruce Lee movie called Return of the Dragon. To have him and Pam Grier do a scene together was amazing. I wanted to have that 70's vibe for just a brief moment in the movie. It has it, too. When you see it, you'll think, 'Oh shyt, is this a 70's black exploitation film for those three minutes?' [laughs].
Stephie Daniels: What was it like, working with Cung Le?
RZA: Cung was great. He was great in the film. He's an awesome guy both on set and off. He also gave me a few workout tips [laughs]. He knows how to stay in shape. He gave me some good tips that I still use to this day, actually. During the process of making the film, a lot of us got very close, and now, Cung trains Eli Roth. Eli lost at least 20 pounds in China, hanging out with Cung.
Stephie Daniels: What do you tap into for the ideas for your music and your film making?
RZA: I like to think that I tap into life. Whether it's my personal life, or the lives of others that I've witnessed around me, or even if it's the lives of people that have already passed on. It could be the prophets or great warriors. I'm a very studious person, so I just try to tap into the universal life energy.
Stephie Daniels: What's your favorite martial arts film?
RZA: The Five Deadly Venoms. This film is great with or without the martial arts. The story is good, the acting was good, but the myth of it, the magic of it, that's what really makes it so great.
Stephie Daniels: The 20th anniversary of 36 Chambers is coming up. Are there any plans to do something special to commemorate it?
RZA: We're working on it right now. Steve Rifkind has now joined the team, as well as some directors we're working with. We're putting together some things on the business side. It's just going to take the boys, you know, the clan, to really all come together and put a moment toward the legacy.
Stephie Daniels: Are we ever going to get that Wu-Tang documentary?
RZA: I think we will. I'm really pushing for it. The reality of it is that it takes all of us to show up. It's not like in a movie, where if someone doesn't show up, we can recast the part. If one of the clan doesn't show up, we can't replace him with someone else [laughs].
Stephie Daniels: Are you, by any chance, going to be doing another Afro Samurai movie with Samuel Jackson?
RZA: [laughs] I was hanging with Sam on the set of Django, and he told me, 'Boy, just put the afro wig on and let's go!' I don't know how that's going to turn out, but it was definitely fun.
Stephie Daniels: Are the Gravediggaz ever going to do anything else?
RZA: Well, you know we lost a member (The Grym Reaper). Prince Paul, who is having a great time with things he's doing, actually reached out to me about two months ago, and said that people have been calling him saying that they're interested in a Gravediggaz tour and one more record. I told him if we could tie it to some kind of horror film or something, not just music, then I would be interested. The thing is, I just can't do only audio. I need audio and visual. I'm not satisfied with just audio expression anymore.
Stephie Daniels: What do you think of the current state of rap and hip hop?
RZA: Well, I'm happy to see that rap is continuing to feed families all over the country. It's fed the West Coast, it feeds the East Coast. It's feeding the South. It's really feeding families around the globe. You've got artists coming up everywhere. Hip hop has been a blessing for my community, and it continues to bless other communities, and now it's a world-wide phenomenon. Of course, I would love to see more consciousness put back into it, and more social awareness, but that should apply to all music, not just hip hop.
There are no more Bob Dylan songs coming. There are no more John Lennon songs, or Michael Jackson and those guys with We Are The World. The uplifting part of music is what I feel is missing. Right now, it's just parties, drinking and going for sex. I like those things [laughs], but that's Friday and Saturday. What about Sunday? What about Monday? We need music that addresses the other side of the mind, as well. To me, that's what's missing.
Stephie Daniels: Do you have any plans to collaborate with Quentin Tarantino on any future projects?
RZA: We'll see what life gives us. He's done such great work. You know, he mentored me, and he's graduated me. If I could go back and do more with the teacher, I would love to. He gave me one assignment recently, and that was to write a song for Django, which I'm in the process of doing right now.
Stephie Daniels: How do you find time for yourself, with the schedule that you keep?
RZA: That's been very difficult, but I will say that what I'm doing is an expression of myself, so I'm not complaining.
Stephie Daniels: Last question, if you could sum up your film in one sentence, what would it be?
RZA: Exciting entertainment for everyone 13 and over [laughs].
Cung Le has kindly given me this never before seen photo of himself and RZA from the set of the movie for our readers
His latest effort, The Man With The Iron Fists, has been generating serious buzz among diehard Wu-Tang fans, as well as entertainment and combat sports media, since word first came out that it had gotten the green light. He wrote, directed and stars in the film, which chronicles a blacksmith that assembles a group of warriors and assassins to protect their small community from a villainous traitor. The movie, boasting an all star cast that includes Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu and UFC star, Cung Le, is scheduled for release on November 2, 2012.
Through a favor from a close friend (Thank you Cung Le!), I was able to secure an interview with RZA for our readers. It should be noted that when I found out I would be interviewing him, I only had 30 minutes notice, so I put out a call on Twitter and across a couple forums for some fan questions to mix in with my own. Among them, one question made me incredibly nervous, 'How did you get an interview with him? He's sort of known for being difficult with media.' I have no idea how anyone could have gotten this impression of him, as he was one of the most gracious, forthcoming people I have ever interviewed. I was on a PR enforced time limit of 15 minutes, but he allowed me extra time, and answered every question I asked. In short, he was great. So, without any further ado, I present to you my interview with the legendary RZA.
Stephie Daniels: The fruits of all your labor will finally be recognized in less than two weeks. What are your overall thoughts as the time winds down, and the press junkets and media tours go into full swing?
RZA: I'm so proud of it, and I hope we have great commercial success with this film. Personally, I'm satisfied in the sense that I've achieved a dream. At the same time, there's a lot of other people that have put their blood and sweat into it, people like Cung Le, Dave Bautista, Rick Yune, Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu. These people all came to the table for me. You've also got the producers and the studio, putting all that money into the marketing efforts for it, so the commercial success is extremely important so that they can know that they've made a good bet.
I'm just so happy that a vision from a kid's mind could come to reality like this. I'm glad the studio is taking all the steps to make people aware of this film. It's a very fun movie, and it's going to be great to see it on the big screen. It goes well with popcorn [laughs], you know what I mean. This is one of those films.
Stephie Daniels: You've been mixing the hip hop culture with martial arts for years now. Talk a little about that connection.
RZA: Well, I think that Bruce Lee really broke through with it first. I think physicality has always been important in the urban culture. Breakdancers took moves from martial arts movies, and I feel that there's just some kind of synergy there that's hard to decipher, but it's definitely there. It's appeared over and over again. Some people say that it's because those movies were sent to the grindhouse theaters, and those theaters were in the black neighborhoods, so it ended up being one of our choices. We'd get two movies for the price of one, and would end up falling in love with these films. It could come from us being two minorities in this country, but I do know that there is a synergy between the Asian martial arts and urban cultures. I'm happy that I learned about it at such a young age, and I'm really happy to be giving back with this movie.
Stephie Daniels: What's your favorite aspect of this film?
RZA: My favorite aspect is the underlying philosophy. I'm going to sum it up with a quote from the film. This comes from the Bible, as well. It says, 'In the beginning, we taught man by the word, but when the word failed, we were forced to teach through action.' To me, that is martial arts. Bruce Lee talked about the art of fighting without fighting. If you can't, however, talk your way out of a fight, you now have to act. Sometimes it takes action to show people what the right way to go is.
Stephie Daniels: How much martial arts training did you do for this film?
RZA: I did training with Hung Ga for about two months, for 1-2 hours a day. That was at the end of every day, before the next day's filming. I'm also a Shaolin disciple, and I study martial arts principles, as well as Chi Gong.
Stephie Daniels: What went into the selection of your cast? Did you already have certain people set in your mind for the roles?
RZA: Rick Yune was my choice for Axe Blade by the time I got to page 20. Three years ago, right after I finished the screenplay, I already had Russell Crowe in mind for Jack Knife. I didn't know about Dave Bautista until maybe a year out, but I saw him doing stick fighting on the internet, practicing, and this big dude was moving as fast as lightning, so I brought him in.
Cung Le was actually brought to my attention by a buddy of mine, Bokeem Woodbine. Bokeem is an actor, but he's also a martial artist, so when Cung was having his fight with Shamrock, Bokeem had a fight party at his house. He had called me up and told me, 'You've got to come out to my house and watch this guy Cung Le. He's one of my favorite fighters, and he's using real martial arts.' People don't think that real martial arts can work in MMA, but Cung has been proving that it can. He broke Shamrock's arm with a kick. From then on, in my head, Cung Le was a true martial artist, in every sense of the word, and then I got a chance to meet him. I forget who hooked the meeting up, but when I met him, he just had such a great spirit, beyond his martial arts skills. I knew that he would be great as Bronze Lion.
Byron Mann as Silver Lion, that was something I got lucky with, because I was actually casting him as someone else, but his screen test was so good, that I gave him a bigger role. Gordon Liu, as the Abbott, was also another stroke of fate, because I wrote the Abbott for my own sifu. I have a sifu named Shi Yan Ming, who teaches Shaolin styles in America. I had always wanted him to be this particular character, but he couldn't get his visa back to China. He's now an American citizen, and couldn't get his visa back [laughs]. I ended up casting Gordon Liu, who was available, and getting him for that role was a dream realized.
I had a guy from Hong Kong named Mike Leeder, who knew about me and Wu-Tang, and he came onboard to help me pull in Hong Kong actors. I just told him my dream list [laughs], and he just started pulling those guys in. Lucy Liu as Madame Blossom has always been in my head as one on the wish list, and I'm fortunate that we got her. It didn't seem like we were going to have her, but I got her. Pam Grier was an extra blessing. I couldn't even imagine getting Pam for her role, but they gave me three names to choose from, and hers was on the list. I was like, 'Oh, we're getting Pam Grier, for sure.'
Some of the people I cast for the strangest reasons. Pam plays a scene with a guy named Jon Benn, and the reason why I cast Jon was because he was in a Bruce Lee movie called Return of the Dragon. To have him and Pam Grier do a scene together was amazing. I wanted to have that 70's vibe for just a brief moment in the movie. It has it, too. When you see it, you'll think, 'Oh shyt, is this a 70's black exploitation film for those three minutes?' [laughs].
Stephie Daniels: What was it like, working with Cung Le?
RZA: Cung was great. He was great in the film. He's an awesome guy both on set and off. He also gave me a few workout tips [laughs]. He knows how to stay in shape. He gave me some good tips that I still use to this day, actually. During the process of making the film, a lot of us got very close, and now, Cung trains Eli Roth. Eli lost at least 20 pounds in China, hanging out with Cung.
Stephie Daniels: What do you tap into for the ideas for your music and your film making?
RZA: I like to think that I tap into life. Whether it's my personal life, or the lives of others that I've witnessed around me, or even if it's the lives of people that have already passed on. It could be the prophets or great warriors. I'm a very studious person, so I just try to tap into the universal life energy.
Stephie Daniels: What's your favorite martial arts film?
RZA: The Five Deadly Venoms. This film is great with or without the martial arts. The story is good, the acting was good, but the myth of it, the magic of it, that's what really makes it so great.
Stephie Daniels: The 20th anniversary of 36 Chambers is coming up. Are there any plans to do something special to commemorate it?
RZA: We're working on it right now. Steve Rifkind has now joined the team, as well as some directors we're working with. We're putting together some things on the business side. It's just going to take the boys, you know, the clan, to really all come together and put a moment toward the legacy.
Stephie Daniels: Are we ever going to get that Wu-Tang documentary?
RZA: I think we will. I'm really pushing for it. The reality of it is that it takes all of us to show up. It's not like in a movie, where if someone doesn't show up, we can recast the part. If one of the clan doesn't show up, we can't replace him with someone else [laughs].
Stephie Daniels: Are you, by any chance, going to be doing another Afro Samurai movie with Samuel Jackson?
RZA: [laughs] I was hanging with Sam on the set of Django, and he told me, 'Boy, just put the afro wig on and let's go!' I don't know how that's going to turn out, but it was definitely fun.
Stephie Daniels: Are the Gravediggaz ever going to do anything else?
RZA: Well, you know we lost a member (The Grym Reaper). Prince Paul, who is having a great time with things he's doing, actually reached out to me about two months ago, and said that people have been calling him saying that they're interested in a Gravediggaz tour and one more record. I told him if we could tie it to some kind of horror film or something, not just music, then I would be interested. The thing is, I just can't do only audio. I need audio and visual. I'm not satisfied with just audio expression anymore.
Stephie Daniels: What do you think of the current state of rap and hip hop?
RZA: Well, I'm happy to see that rap is continuing to feed families all over the country. It's fed the West Coast, it feeds the East Coast. It's feeding the South. It's really feeding families around the globe. You've got artists coming up everywhere. Hip hop has been a blessing for my community, and it continues to bless other communities, and now it's a world-wide phenomenon. Of course, I would love to see more consciousness put back into it, and more social awareness, but that should apply to all music, not just hip hop.
There are no more Bob Dylan songs coming. There are no more John Lennon songs, or Michael Jackson and those guys with We Are The World. The uplifting part of music is what I feel is missing. Right now, it's just parties, drinking and going for sex. I like those things [laughs], but that's Friday and Saturday. What about Sunday? What about Monday? We need music that addresses the other side of the mind, as well. To me, that's what's missing.
Stephie Daniels: Do you have any plans to collaborate with Quentin Tarantino on any future projects?
RZA: We'll see what life gives us. He's done such great work. You know, he mentored me, and he's graduated me. If I could go back and do more with the teacher, I would love to. He gave me one assignment recently, and that was to write a song for Django, which I'm in the process of doing right now.
Stephie Daniels: How do you find time for yourself, with the schedule that you keep?
RZA: That's been very difficult, but I will say that what I'm doing is an expression of myself, so I'm not complaining.
Stephie Daniels: Last question, if you could sum up your film in one sentence, what would it be?
RZA: Exciting entertainment for everyone 13 and over [laughs].
Cung Le has kindly given me this never before seen photo of himself and RZA from the set of the movie for our readers
he should have asked him about the bobby digi movie
so the 1st edit the rza showed to his bosses was longer than 3 and a half hours long.. they told him to shorten it down. The RZA wanted it to be 2 movies like the kill bill project, a 90 min film was produced in the cutting room floor..
Theabbot
#DemBootymeats
100% TRUTH
TheGodGenesDecoded
Slew dem...More Fyah
I may actually patronize a theater to see this one. Maybe.
Exclusive: RZA explains how he quelled conflict on the set by describing how Raekwon and Ghostface Killah were initially "enemies." He also confirms rumors of a remake of "The Last Dragon."
RZA is sitting behind a conference table in the Cornerstone Agency’s Manhattan offices. To his right stands an easel with an oversized movie poster of his directorial debut, The Man With The Iron Fists. A couple members of his public relations team sit on the leather couches directly across the room. He’s been doing interviews all day, but you can’t tell from his demeanor. No exhaustion in eyes. No fatigue in his answers. He’s animated. After years of studying under his movie making mentor - and Executive Producer - Quentin Tarantino, and recording over 1,000,000 feet of film, the heavy lifting is in The Abbot’s rearview.
Two decades ago, the Abbot devised the plan that launched the Wu-Tang Clan into unparalleled global reverence - the type reverence best exemplified by the avid fans roaming with the group’s ubiquitous “W”-logo tattooed on their faces - so feeding the media beast is undoubtedly routine. But what’s wrecking the RZA’s nerves these days, as he tells HipHopDX in this interview, is the anticipation of the public’s reaction to his first official Hollywood endeavor.
RZA Explains The Challenges Of Directing The Man With The Iron Fist
RZA: On one level I can say I feel accomplished because I did it. But now I gotta be accepted by the world. It’s got to be criticized by the world. It has to have a market value to it as well. People invested money into this thing.
HipHopDX: It seems like you’ve been in the Hollywood portion of the [entertainment industry] long enough to alleviate some of those fears.
RZA: Nah, man. This is different. Doing a score is for somebody, It’s his movie. shyt. I got the music and of course I want to do a great job for the [movie]. Even if did the score and the movie is fukked up, the director will get more of the blame than anybody. I’m Captain Kirk of this Enterprise. If the ship goes down, kid, the Captain is to blame. That’s nerve wrecking. At the same time, I finally understand what they mean. When we were editing the film, they were like, “You’ve gotta cut that. You’ve gotta cut that. You’ve gotta kill your babies.” I was like, “Kill the babies? What the fukk y’all talking about. We don’t kill babies.” Actually, within the last two months I would say this film has become a living entity. Therefore, this film is like a baby. You know everybody’s gonna look at your baby like, “Is that an ugly baby? Is that a beautiful baby? Is that a smart baby? Is that a dumb baby? Is that baby retarded?” That’s how a film feels, yo. People watch it.
RZA is sitting behind a conference table in the Cornerstone Agency’s Manhattan offices. To his right stands an easel with an oversized movie poster of his directorial debut, The Man With The Iron Fists. A couple members of his public relations team sit on the leather couches directly across the room. He’s been doing interviews all day, but you can’t tell from his demeanor. No exhaustion in eyes. No fatigue in his answers. He’s animated. After years of studying under his movie making mentor - and Executive Producer - Quentin Tarantino, and recording over 1,000,000 feet of film, the heavy lifting is in The Abbot’s rearview.
Two decades ago, the Abbot devised the plan that launched the Wu-Tang Clan into unparalleled global reverence - the type reverence best exemplified by the avid fans roaming with the group’s ubiquitous “W”-logo tattooed on their faces - so feeding the media beast is undoubtedly routine. But what’s wrecking the RZA’s nerves these days, as he tells HipHopDX in this interview, is the anticipation of the public’s reaction to his first official Hollywood endeavor.
RZA Explains The Challenges Of Directing The Man With The Iron Fist
RZA: On one level I can say I feel accomplished because I did it. But now I gotta be accepted by the world. It’s got to be criticized by the world. It has to have a market value to it as well. People invested money into this thing.
HipHopDX: It seems like you’ve been in the Hollywood portion of the [entertainment industry] long enough to alleviate some of those fears.
RZA: Nah, man. This is different. Doing a score is for somebody, It’s his movie. shyt. I got the music and of course I want to do a great job for the [movie]. Even if did the score and the movie is fukked up, the director will get more of the blame than anybody. I’m Captain Kirk of this Enterprise. If the ship goes down, kid, the Captain is to blame. That’s nerve wrecking. At the same time, I finally understand what they mean. When we were editing the film, they were like, “You’ve gotta cut that. You’ve gotta cut that. You’ve gotta kill your babies.” I was like, “Kill the babies? What the fukk y’all talking about. We don’t kill babies.” Actually, within the last two months I would say this film has become a living entity. Therefore, this film is like a baby. You know everybody’s gonna look at your baby like, “Is that an ugly baby? Is that a beautiful baby? Is that a smart baby? Is that a dumb baby? Is that baby retarded?” That’s how a film feels, yo. People watch it.
I watched it last Saturday with Quentin [Tarantino]. I was like, Oh shyt. And he made me sit right beside him. [Laughs] I was sitting there with so many things going through my head. Once he laughed at one thing like, Oh! I started easing up. I started easing up. Through the middle of the film, I got a few pats on the back like, Good Bobby! His name is on that motherfukker, you know. So, weve still the rest of the world to appreciate it - the Hip Hop community for those who wonder why RZA would leave music. I wasnt kicked out of music, you know what I mean. I walked on my own and did another dream, another passion. And this was it: To bring something from our aesthetic to the world and potentially make more of these. To me this is like [Wu-Tang Clan's] Enter The 36 Chambers and it feels like it. I was real confident on Enter The 36 Chambers. I knew I had the illest thing in the world. I feel this is just as ill, but the difference between that and this is that Ive spent so many years as an emcee/producer before the world ever heard me. This is basically right out of college right now. After six years of studying and all that and doing it. This is not like my third or fourth album. Enter The 36 Chambers wasnt my first album. Its the first album the world heard by me. I made many tapes in my neighborhood. nikkas got 10 albums by me, you know what I mean.
RZA Talks About Older Wu-Tang Clan Movies, Self-Financed
DX: Youve written screenplays. Youve shot movies before that you never released.
RZA: Like Bobby Digital, but I did Bobby Digital with no screenplay. [Laughs] I just got the camera like, Add money. I spent like $400,000 on that motherfukker. I didnt care. I just went for it. Thats a way of learning.
DX: Is that the equivalent to those early demos that people never heard before Enter The 36 Chambers?
RZA: I would say so. I think that is like early demos. And maybe one day somebody will watch it and be like, That shyt was good, motherfukker! But maybe theyll like it more after seeing this. But it aint the same, yo, because the difference between Bobby Digital or Wu-Tang Versus The Golden Phoenix, is that I spent my own money. If its garbage, I can throw it away. Nobody to fukking argue with. In this particular case, Im spending somebody elses money. Im representing not just myself here. Ive got a lot of people - important people - involved with this. Its a different kind of pressure. This is why we say this is my first directorial debut because this is not just a guy that has money and is like, C'mon! Get the cameras. A lot of things start that way. Look at Spike Lees Shes Gotta Have It. But thats cool that it started him, but its not really a good movie. No disrespect to him. Its cool. The girl was sexy. But by the time he got to a real movie that we all went to see...Do The Right Thing was the one that ushered us into his talent. But he had a few things that he did as a student and all those things - those amateur films that may have resonated with a few people. I dont have that same kind of career, but Im just saying that this is not an amateur [film]. This is professional. This is like playing for the pros.
DX: Youve referred to [Quentin] Tarantino as your mentor. If there were two points that he impressed upon you going into your first film, what were those two things that stand out to you now as youre approaching the release?
RZA: Its hard to point to two things. I cant narrow it down to two things, actually. I learned so much from the man from spending time with him, watching movies with him, and seeing how he saw things. Seeing how he dissected. I guess thats one thing: The ability to dissect a scene or a script or a character. Dissecting and then rebuilding - thats important. Even when you make a movie, youre filming it, but that doesnt make it a movie. I dont care how much you film. We filmed over a million feet worth of film, they said. When they measured the shyt, they said, This guys got a million feet. Thats more than most movies. Most movies are 500,000 or 600,000 feet. Theres movies that are only 300,000 worth of feet. I got a million feet. That dont mean that I got a movie yet. Its not a movie until youre able to bring that into the editing room and be able to tell a story. The ability to dissect.
Another thing I learned from him was the proper sequencing of events. You notice about Tarantino - whether he switches it around like in Pulp Fiction; whether he makes it linear like Reservoir Dogs or Inglorious b*stards - he has a way of sequencing events to keep you captivated and even puzzled, sometimes. That became important to me. When I had the first cut, I had a long cut of the movie, it was three and a half hours. I turned in all this shyt. I worked with him on Kill Bill, so Ive seen him turn two movies out of it. I was in the editing room with him on Kill Bill. Ive seen him edit the scenes. I was right there on the scene. I was on the set with him for Kill Bill. Ive seen Uma Thurmond do that whirlwind kick 20 times. When I thought she did it good on the third time, hes like, Good. Um, one more time. [Laughs] Then when youre back in the editing room, you can hear him torturing that woman. Every time, That was good...Oh...one more. Or, That was great, Uma. Lets try it again. Or, Oh good...One more I went down and watched him on Django [Unchained]. Same thing. [Samuel L. Jackson] is just walking. All Sam is doing is walking eight feet, and he did that motherfukker 20 times. I learned from being on hand with him.
But when this film was basically done we had that first cut, I was arguing with my producers about cutting shyt out. So I went to him. We watched some of it, then we stopped it in the middle. He was like, Okay. This is whats happening here. Youve got a train. Youve got this here. And I care about this, and I care about this. But I dont care about this. And if I dont care about this, Im going to lose attention to it. So, you have to figure out how to pair the cans with the cans and the can-nots with the can-nots.
DX: You have to figure out which babies to kill.
RZA: Exactly. And which ones to sequence. That advice helped me tremendously. So its hard to point out what I learned from him because theres so many things.
RZA Reveals That Ghostface Killah & Raekwon Did Not Always Get Along, Learning From Experience
DX: I think one of the things thats most fascinating about your career is the organization you were able to set up with Wu-Tang - regardless of whether we all realized you had a five year plan and planned to expand that way you did. I think thats a fundamental key in being successful in anything: Galvanize people and manage people to see an idea through to fruition. How would you compare that as a director now? These crews have got to be massive. There has to be hundreds of people on set.
RZA: Yeah, its hundreds of people. But its the same principle. Theres an Art Of War and a Book Of The Ninja that says, When you are in the right mind frame, whether youre controlling one or a thousand, its the same. I think being a part of Wu-Tang; and being able to understand the dynamics of my crew; and being able have all of us focus on one mind [is] the key to this whole world if we can just snap into one mind. Not One World Order or shyt like that. An order is one thing. A community is another. If we can all snap into this perfect frame of mind where we can all understand and feel whats right and exact because were living and its resonating - thats when the most power and most achievements are gained.
Ill give you an example from Wu-Tang. You notice that the first five albums - especially the first three - but the first five albums are considered the classics because thats when [the mind] was galvanized. Its after that it starts separating and scattering...It was still a success or whatever. But the rest of the world didnt feel it. On Enter The 36 Chambers, everybody agrees. But by the time you got back to maybe after [Ghostface Killahs] Supreme Clientele, or even me doing Bobby Digital - I got some people to agree. It aint galvanized. The same thing with a film. The people have to be galvanized. Everyone has to be come centralized into one mind. The difference in film is that people know that. They know that the director is the leader. My first [Assistant Director] would talk me dizzy repeating me for months. I wanted to fire him because he was getting me nauseous. After meeting with him for three hours, Im nauseous and dizzy. Im needing coconut water. I told the producer, Thomas is getting me fukking dizzy. Im ready to fukking fire Thomas, but I needed him. I needed him. And I knew I needed him. This guy was smart and he was stubborn; he was consistent and persistent on my ideas.
Bobby, you said that the knife spins this way. How does a knife spin this way? I said, I told you, man. I told you yesterday. Hed say, Okay, but tell me again. And every time he would do that, Im like, This fukking guy, is he retarded? And would you believe that after 12 to 14 weeks of this shyt, when it came time to shoot, everything was on point because he was meticulous like that. There was one day when I got nervous like, Hold on, wait. I needed 30! And he said, No, no Bobby. We have 30. The other ten are still getting ready for you. Theyll be out in five minutes. Im like, Oh. Okay. It was covered.
Working with Wu-Tang did prepare me for this. From going to [Rick Yune] - beautiful dude, love him. Tough dude, though. Tough man to please. This guy, actually. Ill share this with you. I didnt share this with everybody, but Ill share this with you. Brass Body [Rick Yune] and the X Blade [Dave Batista] didnt get along.
DX: Personality conflicts?
RZA: These are both two, muscle bound workout motherfukkers that know what they know and convinced on what they know. Now theyre talking to each other about what they know and theyre arguing. Now theyre both trying to convince me on something. [WWE wrestler], Dave Batista is like, Yo, if Rick wasnt your boy. Rick is like, Man, fukk that. That muscle shyt dont mean nothing. And then I had to get them both together and say, Listen, man. Would you believe that Raekwon and [Ghost were enemies? Then came together and made [Only Built For Cuban Linx...]? This is all part of growing, yo. Wu-Tang became [a group] while Park Hill, [Staten Island] and Stapleton, [Staten Island] was at war. I got two neighborhoods together in one group. But after riding on that tour bus - or tour van. It wasnt a bus back then. Laying on each others shoulders and falling asleep and slobbering on a nikka, a bond happens. The same thing with these guys. The same thing happens with these guys. After being out there in that freezing snow, freezing cold, 14-hour days - and then everybody has to go to lunch and the next thing you know, it was just us at the table. The nikkas, start sharing because we was all in that mission together.
DX: Im looking at the soundtrack and Im seeing Raekwon and Pharoahe Monch. Im seeing Idle Warship, Flatbush Zombies. Im seeing the Black Keys. Did you have an overarching vision for the soundtrack?
RZA: I didnt have an overarching vision for the beginning of the soundtrack. The main thing I wanted to do was make sure I made an accompanied piece to the film. I made sure that, no matter what, some of the music must have [the films theme]. Everything must tie together. There must be a common thread throughout. Some of the artists were my choice. Some the artists were brought to me. Like, Word? Pusha T wants to get on? The budget is gone. Think we can find something a little more? Ill find a little more if youre with it. Im like, Im with it. I love Pusha T. Pusha T, Raekwon, and Joell Ortiz - who had another song that we had to change. Did you know that Danny Brown is on that song as well?
DX: I didnt know that.
RZA: Exactly, because thats a secret. Thats what happens when you get the soundtrack. He came on last minute because I loved his voice. Ill say one thing, a lot of people love to be in movies. But I had the privilege of the fact that what we were doing attracted a lot of talent. I think we came with a great soundtrack. But somebody like Kanye West, for instance, hes the first person to come in. He came in and watched the scene. I didnt show everybody the scenes. I showed him the scene. He saw it and went and wrote me a song. Corrine Bailey Rae, she was the second person I brought in. She came in and watched 70% of one of the first cuts and she got moved and she wrote her song. The Black Keys song, we wrote that right before we started filming because I was telling him a story about the movie and the ideas I had. So some people got stories that go directly with the film itself, and some people were just inspired by the film for their music.
DX: The first kung-fu move I fell in love with was The Last Dragon. I dont know what that says about me as a kung-fu buff, but...
RZA: [Laughs] Its a start, baby!
DX: There was a rumor that you are working on a remake. Is that true? Is that really happening?
RZA: Its true. Its a true rumor. We had meetings just last week about it. Its looking real positive. Its not easy to get movies made. Youll learn that if you ever get into this business. But, it looks very, very positive.
RZA Talks About Older Wu-Tang Clan Movies, Self-Financed
DX: Youve written screenplays. Youve shot movies before that you never released.
RZA: Like Bobby Digital, but I did Bobby Digital with no screenplay. [Laughs] I just got the camera like, Add money. I spent like $400,000 on that motherfukker. I didnt care. I just went for it. Thats a way of learning.
DX: Is that the equivalent to those early demos that people never heard before Enter The 36 Chambers?
RZA: I would say so. I think that is like early demos. And maybe one day somebody will watch it and be like, That shyt was good, motherfukker! But maybe theyll like it more after seeing this. But it aint the same, yo, because the difference between Bobby Digital or Wu-Tang Versus The Golden Phoenix, is that I spent my own money. If its garbage, I can throw it away. Nobody to fukking argue with. In this particular case, Im spending somebody elses money. Im representing not just myself here. Ive got a lot of people - important people - involved with this. Its a different kind of pressure. This is why we say this is my first directorial debut because this is not just a guy that has money and is like, C'mon! Get the cameras. A lot of things start that way. Look at Spike Lees Shes Gotta Have It. But thats cool that it started him, but its not really a good movie. No disrespect to him. Its cool. The girl was sexy. But by the time he got to a real movie that we all went to see...Do The Right Thing was the one that ushered us into his talent. But he had a few things that he did as a student and all those things - those amateur films that may have resonated with a few people. I dont have that same kind of career, but Im just saying that this is not an amateur [film]. This is professional. This is like playing for the pros.
DX: Youve referred to [Quentin] Tarantino as your mentor. If there were two points that he impressed upon you going into your first film, what were those two things that stand out to you now as youre approaching the release?
RZA: Its hard to point to two things. I cant narrow it down to two things, actually. I learned so much from the man from spending time with him, watching movies with him, and seeing how he saw things. Seeing how he dissected. I guess thats one thing: The ability to dissect a scene or a script or a character. Dissecting and then rebuilding - thats important. Even when you make a movie, youre filming it, but that doesnt make it a movie. I dont care how much you film. We filmed over a million feet worth of film, they said. When they measured the shyt, they said, This guys got a million feet. Thats more than most movies. Most movies are 500,000 or 600,000 feet. Theres movies that are only 300,000 worth of feet. I got a million feet. That dont mean that I got a movie yet. Its not a movie until youre able to bring that into the editing room and be able to tell a story. The ability to dissect.
Another thing I learned from him was the proper sequencing of events. You notice about Tarantino - whether he switches it around like in Pulp Fiction; whether he makes it linear like Reservoir Dogs or Inglorious b*stards - he has a way of sequencing events to keep you captivated and even puzzled, sometimes. That became important to me. When I had the first cut, I had a long cut of the movie, it was three and a half hours. I turned in all this shyt. I worked with him on Kill Bill, so Ive seen him turn two movies out of it. I was in the editing room with him on Kill Bill. Ive seen him edit the scenes. I was right there on the scene. I was on the set with him for Kill Bill. Ive seen Uma Thurmond do that whirlwind kick 20 times. When I thought she did it good on the third time, hes like, Good. Um, one more time. [Laughs] Then when youre back in the editing room, you can hear him torturing that woman. Every time, That was good...Oh...one more. Or, That was great, Uma. Lets try it again. Or, Oh good...One more I went down and watched him on Django [Unchained]. Same thing. [Samuel L. Jackson] is just walking. All Sam is doing is walking eight feet, and he did that motherfukker 20 times. I learned from being on hand with him.
But when this film was basically done we had that first cut, I was arguing with my producers about cutting shyt out. So I went to him. We watched some of it, then we stopped it in the middle. He was like, Okay. This is whats happening here. Youve got a train. Youve got this here. And I care about this, and I care about this. But I dont care about this. And if I dont care about this, Im going to lose attention to it. So, you have to figure out how to pair the cans with the cans and the can-nots with the can-nots.
DX: You have to figure out which babies to kill.
RZA: Exactly. And which ones to sequence. That advice helped me tremendously. So its hard to point out what I learned from him because theres so many things.
RZA Reveals That Ghostface Killah & Raekwon Did Not Always Get Along, Learning From Experience
DX: I think one of the things thats most fascinating about your career is the organization you were able to set up with Wu-Tang - regardless of whether we all realized you had a five year plan and planned to expand that way you did. I think thats a fundamental key in being successful in anything: Galvanize people and manage people to see an idea through to fruition. How would you compare that as a director now? These crews have got to be massive. There has to be hundreds of people on set.
RZA: Yeah, its hundreds of people. But its the same principle. Theres an Art Of War and a Book Of The Ninja that says, When you are in the right mind frame, whether youre controlling one or a thousand, its the same. I think being a part of Wu-Tang; and being able to understand the dynamics of my crew; and being able have all of us focus on one mind [is] the key to this whole world if we can just snap into one mind. Not One World Order or shyt like that. An order is one thing. A community is another. If we can all snap into this perfect frame of mind where we can all understand and feel whats right and exact because were living and its resonating - thats when the most power and most achievements are gained.
Ill give you an example from Wu-Tang. You notice that the first five albums - especially the first three - but the first five albums are considered the classics because thats when [the mind] was galvanized. Its after that it starts separating and scattering...It was still a success or whatever. But the rest of the world didnt feel it. On Enter The 36 Chambers, everybody agrees. But by the time you got back to maybe after [Ghostface Killahs] Supreme Clientele, or even me doing Bobby Digital - I got some people to agree. It aint galvanized. The same thing with a film. The people have to be galvanized. Everyone has to be come centralized into one mind. The difference in film is that people know that. They know that the director is the leader. My first [Assistant Director] would talk me dizzy repeating me for months. I wanted to fire him because he was getting me nauseous. After meeting with him for three hours, Im nauseous and dizzy. Im needing coconut water. I told the producer, Thomas is getting me fukking dizzy. Im ready to fukking fire Thomas, but I needed him. I needed him. And I knew I needed him. This guy was smart and he was stubborn; he was consistent and persistent on my ideas.
Bobby, you said that the knife spins this way. How does a knife spin this way? I said, I told you, man. I told you yesterday. Hed say, Okay, but tell me again. And every time he would do that, Im like, This fukking guy, is he retarded? And would you believe that after 12 to 14 weeks of this shyt, when it came time to shoot, everything was on point because he was meticulous like that. There was one day when I got nervous like, Hold on, wait. I needed 30! And he said, No, no Bobby. We have 30. The other ten are still getting ready for you. Theyll be out in five minutes. Im like, Oh. Okay. It was covered.
Working with Wu-Tang did prepare me for this. From going to [Rick Yune] - beautiful dude, love him. Tough dude, though. Tough man to please. This guy, actually. Ill share this with you. I didnt share this with everybody, but Ill share this with you. Brass Body [Rick Yune] and the X Blade [Dave Batista] didnt get along.
DX: Personality conflicts?
RZA: These are both two, muscle bound workout motherfukkers that know what they know and convinced on what they know. Now theyre talking to each other about what they know and theyre arguing. Now theyre both trying to convince me on something. [WWE wrestler], Dave Batista is like, Yo, if Rick wasnt your boy. Rick is like, Man, fukk that. That muscle shyt dont mean nothing. And then I had to get them both together and say, Listen, man. Would you believe that Raekwon and [Ghost were enemies? Then came together and made [Only Built For Cuban Linx...]? This is all part of growing, yo. Wu-Tang became [a group] while Park Hill, [Staten Island] and Stapleton, [Staten Island] was at war. I got two neighborhoods together in one group. But after riding on that tour bus - or tour van. It wasnt a bus back then. Laying on each others shoulders and falling asleep and slobbering on a nikka, a bond happens. The same thing with these guys. The same thing happens with these guys. After being out there in that freezing snow, freezing cold, 14-hour days - and then everybody has to go to lunch and the next thing you know, it was just us at the table. The nikkas, start sharing because we was all in that mission together.
DX: Im looking at the soundtrack and Im seeing Raekwon and Pharoahe Monch. Im seeing Idle Warship, Flatbush Zombies. Im seeing the Black Keys. Did you have an overarching vision for the soundtrack?
RZA: I didnt have an overarching vision for the beginning of the soundtrack. The main thing I wanted to do was make sure I made an accompanied piece to the film. I made sure that, no matter what, some of the music must have [the films theme]. Everything must tie together. There must be a common thread throughout. Some of the artists were my choice. Some the artists were brought to me. Like, Word? Pusha T wants to get on? The budget is gone. Think we can find something a little more? Ill find a little more if youre with it. Im like, Im with it. I love Pusha T. Pusha T, Raekwon, and Joell Ortiz - who had another song that we had to change. Did you know that Danny Brown is on that song as well?
DX: I didnt know that.
RZA: Exactly, because thats a secret. Thats what happens when you get the soundtrack. He came on last minute because I loved his voice. Ill say one thing, a lot of people love to be in movies. But I had the privilege of the fact that what we were doing attracted a lot of talent. I think we came with a great soundtrack. But somebody like Kanye West, for instance, hes the first person to come in. He came in and watched the scene. I didnt show everybody the scenes. I showed him the scene. He saw it and went and wrote me a song. Corrine Bailey Rae, she was the second person I brought in. She came in and watched 70% of one of the first cuts and she got moved and she wrote her song. The Black Keys song, we wrote that right before we started filming because I was telling him a story about the movie and the ideas I had. So some people got stories that go directly with the film itself, and some people were just inspired by the film for their music.
DX: The first kung-fu move I fell in love with was The Last Dragon. I dont know what that says about me as a kung-fu buff, but...
RZA: [Laughs] Its a start, baby!
DX: There was a rumor that you are working on a remake. Is that true? Is that really happening?
RZA: Its true. Its a true rumor. We had meetings just last week about it. Its looking real positive. Its not easy to get movies made. Youll learn that if you ever get into this business. But, it looks very, very positive.
[ame=http://youtu.be/13NNpsXbpGc]The Man With the Iron Fists - What You May Not Know About Jack Knife - YouTube[/ame]
russell crowe = russell jones
russell crowe = russell jones
[ame=http://youtu.be/kG__HIZAOLQ]The Man With The Iron Fists - Featurette: "A Slice Above" - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://youtu.be/NxSkG3CBEaY]O.D.B - Sunz of Man - Masta Killa - YouTube[/ame]
Batista rockin the game of death tracksuite..Ill!
ZEB WALTON
ayo! - BEZ
ive seen the trailer for this mad times already. heavy promo on football sunday on fox